


Easy Breaths

by Renee_Lytle



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bees, Comfort, DeanCas - Freeform, Destiel - Freeform, Finale negative, Fix It, Fluff, Found Family, Happy Ending, I seriously don't know what to tag this I'm not on this site too often, M/M, Saileen - Freeform, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29405493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renee_Lytle/pseuds/Renee_Lytle
Summary: Cas contemplates many things next to his beehive - an epilogue of sorts.The title might make this seem silly, and it definitely is, because it's me trying to be deep lol. This is a kind of post-15x19 fix-it. Still in the canon Supernatural universe but it obviously diverges from the disaster that was the finale.The other "chapters" in this series aren't continuances of Cas' POV but snippets from Eileen and Charlie! (possibly more if my motivation stays with me).
Relationships: Castiel & Dean Winchester, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy & Sam Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester
Kudos: 7
Collections: Their Love Was Real: a Destiel & Saileen Fanworks Challenge





	1. The Bees Knees

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the #TheirLoveWasReal Challenge day zero "Carry On: Canonverse" 
> 
> We're raising money and awareness for the Southern Poverty Law Center so be sure to check out our donation drive here: splc.donordrive.com/campaign/theirlovewasreal
> 
> Also, these are VERY lightly edited. Apologies for any awkward sentences or errors.

Cas understood honey bees like the trees understood wind. There wasn’t really a language per se; it was more a general conveying of intentions and ideas. Oh, they had a lot of ideas. Sometimes, despite the lack of direct communication, Cas got lost in the depth of their thoughts. They knew more about how the universe was connected throughout than most living things. If only the angels had listened a moment to the bees. It wasn’t such a ridiculous idea.

This hive was Carniolan, a breed of honey bee from Europe, the most docile kind on earth. They only stole if desperate, and they got to work earlier in the spring than any others. Cas knew this because they remembered their entire lineage. Every bee in the colony held the entirety of their ancestors not as one but as a whole. It hung in the air like golden dust around them. Each of them could recall any moment in Carniolan history in the same way life remembered how to continue cycling in every living creature.

He got utterly lost in their world come springtime. Dean and Jack would be off somewhere fishing. Sam would be down in the old bunker trying to get through every volume that was there. Unless Eileen was back from hunting, then she’d be dragging him off on hikes or backpacking. Sometimes other hunters showed up with tomes they’d found, and they were left to pile up in the library. Sam would never be finished with them. Which was probably just fine with him.

The bees didn’t skip a beat when Chuck’s power left him. After all, things within the universe were never truly destroyed; they simply changed. Chuck’s power, the light and pure goodness of creation which had turned sour within him, what had made him God, were passed to Jack. At that moment, in the transfer of power, Jack learned what the bees already knew; Chuck wasn’t God of the cosmos. He was only A god. There were things even within the galaxy which housed earth that were older and more powerful than him. 

Cas knew this now because the bees knew it and let the truth pass to him as they swung around him in the warm breeze. But even the bees wouldn’t give up what they knew of an absolute creator. He didn’t need to understand. So he eventually stopped prying and only listened to the thrum of their thousands across his skin. Cas knew if he came to them in his true form, he might be able to understand answers to some of the most important questions ever asked. But he didn’t know what would happen to his human vessel if he left it. There was comfort and sometimes peace within it, mostly when he was alone with Dean. They knew each other as they were now, and not even the ultimate truth could tempt him into giving that up.

So every spring, he’d sit by the hive and watch them live. Watch them create. When the sweet smell of honey started to cling to the heavy air, when the Kansas haze and heat began to rise off the brick of the bunker, Cas took the frames from the box and spun the honey out into metal drums. He always left a frame or two for their food, and come fall, he’d be out every week with tubs of sugar water.

Dean could always find Cas sitting out among the blooms, head back and eyes closed, or staring at his hands in contemplation. He was wary of bees and never came too close to the hive. Cas always knew when he was there because the bees would quicken the beat of their wings. They were wary of him in return. This gave Cas a great deal of mirth because it turns out that beings who saw the truth behind the universe as a whole couldn’t understand Dean. But Cas knew Dean. He knew him like the bees knew ultimate creation, and in that way, each of them understood their own universes.


	2. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eileen comes home to serene normalcy after a hunt - an epilogue of sorts.

It still caught her by surprise, the content. Even Years later, after Chuck was dethroned and they’d all just shown up back on earth like nothing had even happened. Like a child Nephilim hadn’t defeated God and restored natural order to the world. They lived reasonably peaceful lives, for hunters anyway. There were still monsters, but there were no more apocalypses, no more supernatural massacres. It turns out that for all these years, ever since the Winchester line was thought up by Chuck, the scales had been skewed toward violence. Now it was manageable. Hell, she sometimes had to look pretty hard to find cases. She wasn’t complaining.

 _I worry about you_ , Sam always signed to her before she left.

She always assured him with a slow smile and a kiss.

Eileen liked working alone; she just knew how to go it solo better than anything. After a vampire-mime nest (Dean’s nickname) almost got her killed, she knew better than to take on too much if she was going to continue working alone. Sam knew better than to push help on her after almost killing Castiel (at first on accident) when she caught him following her on a Wendigo hunt in Arizona. It was hard to get him to let up again after the vamp-mime debacle. He eventually let her do her thing once she stocked the bunker’s shelves with all the lore she could find. It helped that Bobby told his merry band of hunters to stash all their knowledge in the bunker at her request.

Sam found purpose in reading and teaching. Just thinking about how animated he got while coming up with lesson plans for the young hunters made her stomach fill with butterflies.

It was springtime again. In a few months, Cas would harvest honey from the beehive. He gave her the wax to use for candles. Every summer solstice, Rowena would come up from hell, and the two of them would spend all day and night infusing the wax with spells. Sometimes Charlie would join, and it always turned into a midnight margaritas situation. After the first year, Charlie joined the boys knew to steer clear of the bunker. They’d sit up in the house they built behind the hill the bunker was set into or go camping by the lake.

No one knew she was home yet, being back a few days early from what turned out to be a false lead. When she came around the corner of the house looking for people, she stopped short when she saw Dean and Castiel standing close together. She saw Dean’s hand come up to Cas’s face, and it hesitated for a moment before he rubbed a knuckle lightly down his angel’s cheek. Cas smiled and took that hand in his before pulling Dean in for a kiss. She turned away and left them to it.

Down in the bunker, Sam was in the same spot she’d left him in. She only knew that time had passed because he was wearing a different shirt and reading another book. Eileen was able to get within a few feet of him before he looked up and twitched violently. She laughed as he set the book down and ran a hand through his hair.

 _How are you so quiet_?

She made a face. _Don’t be rude_.

He put his hands up in defeat and then wrapped his arms around her. The way he enveloped her always made her feel so safe she sometimes wished she could exist within it for the rest of time. Eileen could never give up hunting as long as she could do it, but as soon as she retired, she was never leaving his arms again.


	3. Peace Finally Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie finally finds a little bit of peace - an epilogue of sorts

God, it was almost summer again. She could feel it smoldering inside her soul. Larping getaways, conventions, gaming retreats, the best things were always in summer. Plus, she could make Rowena and Eileen's solstice celebration this year, and that was always a freakin blast.

It was a little weird being back after being dead for so long, but it was a great backstory that she used in all her role-playing games. Actually, Dean would probably have a cow if he knew how much of the truth she let seep into her nerd life. Oh well. At least Jack had given her a choice, stay in heaven or live the life you were supposed to live on earth. She chose earth, she didn't really know anyone in heaven, and the WiFi sucked ass. 

As far as Charlie knew, their doppelgängers from Apocalypse World went back to one that was no longer in an actual apocalypse. Other Charlie's girl went with her. Jack basically did a system restore for all the worlds back to before Chuck went completely psycho. Bobby had chosen earth too. Mary hadn't, she was tired, and Charlie got that, boy did she ever.

Speaking of exhaustion, it was almost two in the morning, and she had accounts to hack for an animal rights group in the morning. The codes for all the facilities holding this companies' test animals were going to magically show up in the rights group's inboxes. What they chose to do with said codes wasn't her problem. She'd get paid by them for building a website, which she'd already finished, and no one would be the wiser. It was a temporary fix for the cruel world of animal testing, but it was something to do while the long-term solutions were being hatched.

She took off her headphones and was immediately assaulted by deafening quiet. It pressed in on her, and the urge to wrap herself in blaring music was immediate. Instead, she took a deep breath and paused the music. It got even quieter without the blurry noises from the headphones, not on her ears. Charlie sat in complete silence for a moment and reminded herself that she was no longer in danger. The world wasn't on the verge of ending. There was no responsibility to save anyone if she didn't want to. Guilt tried to creep in, but she shoved it down. She deserved to save people if she chose to, and she wasn't evil for not putting her life on the line 24/7.

When she couldn't take the stillness any longer, she moved to the French doors that lead to the little balcony and opened them. A rush of warm air, the smell of spring in Italy, and blessed noise from the street below filled her senses. Her body relaxed. This apartment has been cheaper than most because of the noise from the street. It was a popular one at night, and if you left the windows cracked, there was never any silence. Just the way Charlie liked it. She'd stayed away from the Winchester's at first, afraid they'd drag her back into danger. It killed her because she loved them so much, but she was trying to remember what it was to live for herself again. The longer she stayed away, though, the more and more she felt like she was holding herself back from home. 

She smiled and took a deep breath of the night air. It was starting to feel more challenging than before, being away from those dorks. She would never live in Kansas, for crying out loud, but maybe she could spend more time in the states. The California sun was undoubtedly inviting. Plenty of corrupt tech companies waiting to be taken down. It would be easier to see them during holidays and birthdays from the West Coast. Hell, she could even see them on "Deathdays" as Dean had somewhat sarcastically suggested one night. 

A lone woman walked under her window, heels clicking on the ancient cobblestones, and a warm breeze wafted her perfume up and around Charlie's robed shoulders. It was faint, but it made her heart beat hard once, twice. The boys and California could wait just a little bit longer.


End file.
